Jail committee work starts to take shape

Although the ad hoc jail committee met to discuss what to do about the county’s crumbling jail, it spent a lot of time talking about what to do about the county’s two other buildings on the downtown Mt. Pleasant campus.

Once the meeting got underway, George Green, chairman of the county commission, shared his expectations of what he hoped the committee would accomplish. One of those things includes looking at recommendations by a feasibility study introduced to the county board last year, and discussing whether to address some of those while also tackling the jail issue.

There was wide agreement among committee members, for instance, that the entrance of the trail court needs to be modified. Right now, people walk into the courthouse’s vestibule and only then go through a security screening.

County administrator Margaret McAvoy, a member of the ad hoc committee, eventually said that whatever is done with the jail will affect the other two buildings. Discussions about what to do about the other two buildings is a natural progression from the choice made about what’s done about the jail itself.

The first step, however, is to decide what to do about the jail.

Because Tuesday’s meeting was the committee’s first, no concrete decisions were expected towards refining the committee’s recommendation to the county commission. But, some parameters started to take shape about a potential location, should the committee recommend building a new facility.

Green said that, in that case, it would have to be where existing infrastructure -- roads, sewer, water -- is already available. He identified three parts of the county that immediately came to mind: the city of Mt. Pleasant, and Union and Chippewa townships.

Sheriff Michael Main said that he has statutory requirements that his office remain close to the county seat. While the language is pretty vague, he said, if the county commission builds in Shepherd, for instance, he’d probably have to maintain his office in the city.

While the committee is charged most specifically with addressing the issue of a jail that is outdated and in compliance with modern requirements only because it was built more than 65 years ago, Main has linked the need for a new jail with expanded space for his department. His current office space is cramped and overused. The departments IT’s operation is an old storage room with computers sitting on stands that look like they were purchased at a thrift store and wires hanging all over the walls. The department has equipment like jet skis, boats and dive equipment scattered all over the county.

He also said that they should consult Michigan Department of Corrections employees working in Mt. Pleasant. He said he’s heard informally that they might prefer working out of a new facility.

District Court Judge Mark Duthie said that probably wouldn’t work, considering the number of times Isabella County’s four judges have to sign documents for them. If they were to move to a new facility, they’d wind up spending considerable time driving between the two.

Transportation issues were part of what McAvoy was talking about when she said that changes to the jail will require changes to the county’s two other buildings. Currently, the jail is connected to the trial court by an underground tunnel. Moving the jail to a new location would require building holding cells and sally ports on the trial court to accommodate transfers from the jail to the trial building for court appearances. Main said that space opened by a move could be used for services for which there is limited space, like renting office area to the county’s indigent defense system expected to come online this year.

The ad hoc committee will discuss the feasibility study more in depth at its next meeting. Committee chairman David Ling set that for Feb. 19 at noon. That study offers two general prescriptions for how to deal with the ancient jail and the other two buildings.

The first is to move the jail and renovate the county administration building and the trial court. The second is to move all three. Generally speaking, there is very little appetite among county leaders to move all three buildings. Both the other buildings are considered structurally sound and, while in need of interior modifications, not a menace to public safety.

Moving the jail is generally considered more feasible that leaving it in place and refurbishing it. Space requirements for programs and people housed in it have changed since it was opened in the late 50s, and it is out of compliance with almost every major law and regulation about jail construction adopted since. Main said that building vertically would add unsustainable staffing costs to his department, and the supporting water infrastructure is deteriorating badly.

One idea that the committee will give serious consideration to is building a pod-style jail that is popular right now in corrections construction. Those are transparent pods built in a semi-circle around a central open space where corrections officers can see people housed in the jail in every direction. This allows for greater safety and security for those people and also corrections officers.

Part of that study are jail visits, specifically to one of these recently built in Midland County. Main said he could arrange a visit for committee members to that jail sometime in the upcoming three to four weeks. Duthie said that his cases are scheduled about five weeks out, which would be optimum for him.

Duthie and Main also discussed Duthie taking a tour of Isabella County’s jail. Main said that he’d be happy to arrange for tours of any of Isabella County’s four judges, and added that when the weather starts to improve that his goal was to again open the jail to take members of the community through to provide a better understanding of the issues.

The ad hoc committee is charged with coming up with a recommended course of action for the county commission to vote on. The committee is chaired by former county commissioner Ling. Jim Horton, the county commission’s vice chairman, is the committee’s vice chairman. Green, McAvoy, Main, Duthie and county facilities director Rick Jackubiec are the other members.

While there is no specific timetable for the county commission to act, Green said previously that he’d like to see action taken on whatever the county decides starting next year.